Combat Air Museum
Hangers 602-604, "J" Street,
Forbes Field
P.O. Box 19142
Topeka, KS 66619
785-862-3304
Submitted by: Richard E. Loftis (12-07-2003)It had been a few years since I visited the Combat Air
Museum. Many things have changed since I was a member in the late 90s.
There has been a lot of new work on the buildings , many of which were
hangers at the original air base, now deactivated. The town of Topeka has
converted the base into an industrial area. Many new exhibits and good
historical data are there. Sad to say, gone are the piles of really neat
stuff —like engines and parts, both jet and recip. Also gone are several
airplanes, including the Heinkel-111, (a CASA) that was used in the movie
Battle of Brittan. It seems like when places like this start to
clean up, the neat things disappear.
Most of the collection is now inside two hangers. A T-33 is
outside, as is an EC-121 Connie, which can be toured. The museum brochure
shows more of the airplanes outside, but today they were all inside the
two hangers.

Allison TF41-A-1B (turbofan for A-7B Corsair 2)
Allison V-1710 (with Curtiss Electric prop)
de Havilland Goblin 2
Fairchild J44-R-24
Franklin Flat 6
General Electric GE-1A (The sign says it is a Whittle, but I think it is a GE unit. Many parts missing; no name tags; only one combustion chamber cut away.)
Kinner 5-Cylinder (Almost all five cylinders were cut away in some fashion. You can turn the crankshaft and see the various parts move.)
Lawrance Model A (a 2-cylinder opposed that is clean and fairly complete)
Lawrance E & R Corp Model 30C-2 (A 2-cylinder opposed engine from an APU — beautiful small cylinders. Lawrance also made a 5-cylinder radial APU engine.)
Lycoming 0-145 (4-cylinder opposed)
Lycoming Flat 6

Packard-Built Merlin V-1650-1
Pratt & Whitney R-1535 (This was a real
surprise. The tag says built in 1936. Really covered with bird stuff on
one side. This was the first engine in the second hanger where they have a
real problem with birds. I may have some earlier photos of it in a cleaner
state.)
Pratt & Whitney R-1830
Pratt & Whitney R-2800-52W (Built by Nash, 5-7-54
Pratt & Whitney R-4360-59B (Cutaway too covered by Plexiglas to see much or photograph)
Pratt & Whitney J42 (This is a really big engine.)
Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-414A (Turbofan for early F-14)
Westinghouse J34-WE-36 (from a Douglas Skynight)
Wright Cyclone GR-1820